In our district the DIBELS scores are going to be sent to parents at the end of the school year. What are the DIBELS and how do I read it?

DIBELS  — > Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills

What are the DIBELS?

The DIBELS is an assessment that is administered to students in some school districts (ok, a lot of school districts) to measure (grade pending) phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. The assessment is given usually three times a year (Fall, Winter and Spring)

How much time does it take to administer the DIBELS?

The assessment can take anywhere between 2-6 minutes depending the time of year, grade level and student.

How are results used?

For teachers, the results will provide a temperature check on where to focus on instruction for each individual student. When I was a teacher I would utilize assessments like the DIBELS to create my groupings for small group instruction. I was able to group homogeneously so that I could provide targeted instruction. The DIBELS is also a tool that can be used almost like a screener to identify children who might need SRBI (scientific research based intervention aka tier 2/tier 3) OR might need to be referred to the Special Education team for deeper evaluation.

How would a parent interpret the scores? 

The DIBELS does a really nice job with a home connect letter to showcase the information gained from the assessment but I will dive into it deeper below….

The DIBELS report will come with an overall composite score. The score will be circled in either red, yellow, green or blue at the top right of the report. There is a key that shows you what the score means. In the example this student needs some support. You might wonder what the benchmark score should have been on the composite score – to find this I utilize the second chart below or the link here. For middle of the year first grade the cut off is a 389 – so this example is just slightly below.

Each area assessed is then listed with examples such as letter names, phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, accuracy and reading common words. On the bars it will show you cut off points to advance to the next level of proficiency.

What should I do with my scores?

Personally, I save my children’s scores in a digital format on Google Drive. I also enter the scores in an excel chart and map their progress from one assessment to the next. What I can tell you from doing so is that I can identify trends that I see and map out the trend against the time of year which gives me a little predictor of how the next year may go. This is helpful when I meet a new grade level teacher to have an open conversation of historically how my child performs at each point of the year.

SAMPLE DIBELS HOME CONNECT REPORT 

 

How would I interpret this report?

As a teacher I would use this to know that this friend needs to work on the accuracy and fluency and would group with other students who need help in the same area and deliver small group instruction. As a parent, I would FREAK OUT to know that my child is not in the green or blue in a few areas and question what is going on… BREATHE!!!

What is important to know?

If your child is in the blue and green – FANTASTIC! Nothing to see here, move along.

If your child has some yellows – don’t fret! It is NORMAL to have strengths and weaknesses – ESPECIALLY IN THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR ASSESSMENT! Think about it… the come back to school after 2 months of no instruction, that is when I would expect to see the scores go the lowest compared to the rest of the year. 

What I WOULD recommend is to TALK TO YOUR TEACHER about the scores. If there are some dips, ask them their thoughts on why and what they are doing to work with your child.

IF THERE ARE A LOT OF LOWER SCORES in RED and YELLOW – 1. TALK TO YOUR TEACHER and 2. Potentially call a meeting – A meeting? Yes, a PPT meeting. A PPT meeting (planning and placement team) is to see if evaluations might be necessary to rule out a learning disability –> BEFORE Doing this see the next paragraph…

I am going to say this (and really loud for the people in the. back) THE DIBELS IS ONLY ONE DATA POINT. Take a cue from this assessment, coupled with other classroom assessments/activities/work (this is where OPEN COMMUNICATION with the classroom teacher is imperative) and your observations at home. Me personally, I am a HORRIBLE test taker. But I can write a dissertation (literally) with ease. Find out what happened on the test. If it sounds like your kid really tried and these are the scores produced, I personally would ask for a PPT meeting — early intervention is key.

How to interpret the benchmark chart as found on the DIBELS website. 

Do you want to learn more about how to be the best advocate for your child?

Check out my book on Amazon: The Special Education Process: A Parent’s Guide by a Parent